The biggest difference between a transformation program that delivers on it’s promises and one that doesn’t is an effective nutrition program. The transformation contest that produce less than amazing results usually make nutrition complicated, cobble together some meal plans and try to fit every client into one plan. If that sounds like you…it’s okay, I did it too! It’s not your fault. No one teaches you how to set up transformation contest nutrition plans when you are learning about being a personal trainer. Heck, even the higher-level nutrition certifications and programs don’t show you how to set up a contest that delivers great results. You either get an aggressive meal plan that gets people results if they are able to stick to the boring food choices and restrictive dieting or you get simple habits that don’t produce results fast enough.

The first thing we need to get straight before moving on is that when you are running a transformation contest, you need to deliver big results quickly and that is why a transformation contest nutrition plan is critical. There is a very distinct difference between how you may coach a regular client working on fat loss and those clients in a transformation contest. Typically you are a bit more aggressive with the transformation contest clients and your recommendations are more restrictive. That doesn’t mean that you have to give out meal plans or even have people count calories. Although, I have seen those both work… Over time, I developed a much better plan!

Your Transformation Contest Nutrition Plan Basics

In my experience there are three types of clients to consider:

The overweight beginner where anything you give them will work.

The intermediate client that just needs some fine-tuning and accountability to get back on track to see results.

The advanced client that is looking to take their results to a whole new level and requires some personalization to make it work.

A majority of your transformation contests will be filled up with the first two types of clients. That is what you should focus on when planning out your transformation nutrition program. Figure out what will get 80% of the people the best results and you can adjust and modify for the other 20%. You can also run a few select transformation contests through the year that are catered to getting people in the best shape of their life. This allows you to work with those advanced clients, charge more for the program and get some amazing before and after pictures. There are so many great resources and so much info out there on nutrition it can be incredibly confusing for trainers to figure out what works best.

The trick is… Most of them work… …for a while.

I cover all the nitty-gritty details of Transformation Nutrition in the Transformation Systems. But, for the sake of this article let’s cover the basics:

TIER 1 Nutrition Plan Recommendations

These recommendations work well for someone that is just starting out or that has pretty bad eating habits. It’s a mild approach but it will get results.

Start here if your clients are extremely overweight or a beginner. You will need to adjust these as they progress. Instead of looking at total number of meals per day or even the amount at each meal I like to view food recommendations as a total for the day. Here are my TIER 1 recommendations:

It doesn’t matter if the person chooses to eat this over 5 meals or two all I care about at first is making sure they are stay at or under these numbers. You then assess progress and move on as needed. You can adjust the amounts or portions sizes by starting at the higher end of the range and then moving to the lower as progress slows or you can move right to tier 2.

TIER 2 Nutrition Plan Recommendations

These recommendations work best for your intermediate clients or those that are really sensitive to carbohydrates. This will get dramatic results and most people will end up here eventually and stay here during their transformations. Here are the TIER 2 recommendations:

Progress with portion sizes, timing the carbohydrates around workouts and then moving to more individual progressions as needed. In all honesty if a client is doing everything in TIER 2 right there is rarely a need to make any other drastic changes. They can continue to make progress by focusing on habits, increasing training frequency/intensity and reducing stress.

Save the higher-level adjustments until absolutely needed such as:

Carb Cycling

Calorie Cycling

Macro/Calorie Tracking

Intermittent Fasting

These all work and they can work well but you need to assess each individual to determine if it is a good fit for them. The downside to using something so simple is that clients will give you a bit of resistance to using it because they think it is too simple. They have been duped into thinking that they need meal plans and strict guidelines that eliminate foods to get the results they want. The problem with a meal plan lies in its specificity. There is no way to create a meal plan that fits everyone in your contests. You have no idea of their caloric needs, meal preferences, etc when creating it. The other problem lies in the lack of empowerment a meal plan provides someone when they have to make a choice at a restaurant or if they get caught in a position where they have to eat off the meal plan. A basic nutrition guide can help explain the details.

This nutrition guide can break down things like:

Discovering your current calorie intake

The basics of fat loss

Defining macronutrients

Explaining the best food sources for each macro

Laying out a plan for the grocery store

Tips on dining out

Tips for breaking through plateaus

Example daily plans

Recipes or resources for recipes

How to track macros

Again, there is an endless amount of info that you can give people. Don’t try to drown them with information, provide them guidelines and coach them to get results.

Sometimes less is more!

The aggressiveness of your nutrition plan is based on the transformation program that you are running and the results you are promising. If you are running a short 21-day program you probably need to get things dialed in quickly and get results fast with clients. While this might not be the perfect way to approach a lifestyle-changing program it is a great way for the client to see results and buy in to your program so that you can continue to help them.

The shorter and more aggressive the program the more strict you will have to be on what you allow and the guidelines you give them. The longer the program the more you can help them personalize the plan and find the right fit for them. Each program you run I suggest taking a look at the results and finding small ways to improve the guidelines and plans you are giving your clients. Survey they to find out the struggles they had and their favorite things about the program. Not only does this provide you with valuable information for promoting your next transformation program but it helps you refine it and perfect it to the needs of your clients. I’ll show you EXACTLY how to set up your nutrition plan, individualize results and even provide you with a read-to-use manual in the VPS Transformation Systems.

Great question! You WILL NOT be crossing any legal boundaries as long as you are not prescribing a specific meal plan for the individual. The nutritional guidelines are based on healthy eating practices and not a prescription to treat disease. It’s very similar to what Precision Nutrition teaches. You can find more info about that here: http://www.precisionnutrition.com/can-personal-trainers-give-nutrition-advice

Ryan Ketchum

Executive Director

Ryan is a seasoned fitness professional and business marketing consultant. After starting (and growing exponentially) 2 businesses of his own, he joined FR Nation to help other fitness professionals do the same.
His weakness: peanut butter. (Everything in moderation, right?)